Nick paced the guest house porch.  It was a week since he’d been kicked out of Alison’s house and she’d yet to speak to him, let alone allow him near her.  He’d spent his days in the garden and maintaining the grounds, but the pouring rain forced him to take time off.   He had a few things he could tend to inside the main house, but not if he couldn’t get past the door.  He could force his way in or even use the key he had, but it would only push Alison further away.He couldn’t explain why he just stood and stared at the scene before him when he found Martin and Alfred with Vanessa. He’d given it a lot of thought.  The only thing he could come up with was that he was in shock.  He knew Martin to be a bit of a player when it came to women.  Alfred could be rather promiscuous as well. They may have even participated in a few ménage à trois in their long lifetimes.  They were, a

Shadow walkers have the ability to see in the dark far easier than a mundane can.  Even so, they don’t have supernatural vision like the heroes of folklore and fairy tales.  Shadow walkers have a strength superior to most mundanes, but, again, it isn’t super hero strength.  Their hearing is better than a mundane’s hearing, but it couldn’t be called supernatural. These were facts that Nick lamented over while he sat in darkness that could only be described as pitch black.Had he not been bound with his hands behind his back for so long that he’d lost circulation in them and could barely feel their presence, he’d have felt his environment to help assess his whereabouts. The air was damp and the surface a cold stone, which led him to believe he was in a basement.  He recalled the basement he and his friends rescued Martin from not that long ago.  He wondered if it was the same group of shadow walker hunters who’d

The restaurant was in a part of the city that they’d never been to, making it a little tougher to find than they’d expected.  Even so, their moods were light when the host led them to their table and the waiter took their order.Although her inheritance made her disgustingly rich, Alison never let the wealth alter who she was or how she lived.  She seldom did something that allowed her to remember and enjoy the fact she could do pretty much whatever she wanted.  This dinner would be an exception.  She ordered their best bottle of wine and insisted that Vanessa not so much as peek at the prices.  She was to order whatever she wanted without a thought to the cost.They both started with a caprese salad with pesto and a Panzanella.  Vanessa ordered her much coveted chicken marsala while Alison decided to try the wild garlic and ricotta ravioli with lamb soup.   For dessert, they ordered panna cotta with raspberry coulis

Alfred drummed his fingers on the top of the kitchen table while he waited for Vanessa to serve him the morning cup of coffee she insisted on preparing.  Normally, he’d find her incessant flirting amusing, but with so much riding on his success with Alison, her friend was rapidly becoming a nuisance that he couldn’t afford to have.  Heloise’s frantic phone call telling him that Nick guessed his kidnappers were shadow walkers billowed the embers of his determination into enormous flames.  Time was of the essence. He also needed to speed things along with Alison. He was making progress, but not nearly fast enough.  He’d managed to get her to kiss him the night before, only to be told how guilty she felt because Vanessa liked him too.  Since he’d already had sex with Vanessa -never mind the circumstances behind that sex- she felt she was wronging her friend by allowing anything to happen between them.He’d

Martin wore a look of surprise when Alfred answered Alison’s front door. “Fancy seeing you here.  What miracle occurred to get you back into this house?”“Flowers,” Alfred said over his shoulder as he walked back into the kitchen.  “I’ve got cookies that need to come out of the oven.”Martin followed him into the kitchen and looked around.  The table was laden with freshly baked oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies.  He inhaled their tantalizing aroma while reaching for a generously sized oatmeal with raisons.  He took a bite and hummed his appreciation when the delicious flavors burst forth from its soft center.  “I’m confused.”“Really?” Alfred said as he removed a batch of hot cookies from the baking sheet.  “Why so?”“How are you here?” Martin asked. “Why are you here?  Where’s Nick?  Where’